One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

By checking out the USDA zone info for Hillsdale it's a good idea to estimate when it's a good idea to plant chinese cabbage.

Planting Calendar for Chinese cabbage

Frost tolerance for chinese cabbage:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Chinese cabbage do well in moderate cold which means that you can start planting them earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant chinese cabbage in Hillsdale is February. However, you really should wait until March if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant chinese cabbage and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your chinese cabbage may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your chinese cabbage indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Hillsdale. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Remember that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for Hillsdale and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Hillsdale there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to protect your chinese cabbage if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Hillsdale

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-15°F
Highest Expected Low	-10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Hillsdale

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Hillsdale.